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GIFT  OF 
Mrs.   William  L.Oook 


BIGGER,  BETTER  BUSINESS 


Editorials  on  Constructive  Selling 


By 

JOSEPH  H.  FINN 
'I 

President 
NICHOLS-FINN  ADVERTISING  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  —  NEW  YORK  * 


Reprinted  from 

CHICAGO  HERALD 


FOREWORD 


REPRINTED    FROM    THE 

CHICAGO  HERALD 


Joseph  H.  Finn,  President  of  the  Nichols -Finn 
Advertising  Company,  who  contributes  these  business 
editorials  in  the  Chicago  Herald,  is  one  of  the  national 
authorities  on  merchandising,  advertising  and  selling. 
His  experience  in  promoting  sales  covers  almost  the 
entire  range  of  modern  business  and  his  editorials  will 
repay  every  attention  given  them.  Among  the  important 
American  corporations  counseled  by  his  organization 
are:  Great  Northern  Railway,  C.  B.  &  Q.  R.  R.,  Wizard 
Products  Co.,  Mutual  Film  Corporation,  John  M.  Smyth 
Co.,  Schulze  Baking  Co.,  Addressograph  Co.,  Goodrich 
Transit  Co.,  Northern  Steamship  Co.,  T.  A.  Snider  Pre- 
serve Co.,  Morris  &  Company,  American  Film  Co.  Inc., 
John  Lucas  &  Co.  Inc.,  Union  Passenger  Station  Co., 
A.  M.  Ramer  Co.,  Delta  Electric  Co.,  Middle  West 
Soil  Improvement  Comm.,  Philipsborn,  the  outer  gar- 
ment house,  Sidway  Mercantile  Co.,  American  Linseed 
Co.,  Kalamazoo  Corset  Co.  The  readers  of  the  Chicago 
Herald  may  feel  fortunate  to  receive  the  benefit  of  his 
opinions. 


THE  BIG  IDEA  IN  MERCHANDISING 

EVERY  year  those  who  are  concerned  in  securing 
America's  home  trade  spend  more  than  $1,000,- 
000,000  in  various  forms  of  promotional  activity. 
They  spend  that  amount  in  merchandising — to  sell  goods. 

In  view  of  this  enormous  investment  there  is  small 
wonder  that  in  leading  business  enterprises  all  over  the 
country  they  are  organizing  for  the  highest  efficiency, 
for  economic  results,  not  only  in  the  manufacturing 
departments — the  actual  production  of  the  merchandise 
— but  in  merchandising  methods.  They  are  organizing 
for  the  production  of  sales  with  least  resistance,  at  a 
right  profit;  the  maintenance  of  permanent  distribution 
and  consumption. 

Scientific  management  has  scope  for  its  farthest- 
reaching  application  in  modern  merchandising.  Today, 
the  word  merchandising  has  a  meaning  not  only  in  the 
field  of  trade  but  to  the  consumer.  He  appreciates  that 
merchandising  as  a  means  of  co-operation  between  the 
buying  and  selling  public  has  arrived  at  the  stage  of  an 
actual  business  science. 

The  consumer  relies  upon  the  merchandising  effort 
of  manufacturers  and  distributors  for  convenience  in 
buying,  for  "making  the  price  right,"  and  for  actual 
information  regarding  buying  opportunities.  And  all  of 
this,  which  represents  service  to  the  consumer,  is  a 
natural,  legitimate  part  of  merchandising  in  its  broadest 
sense; 

H(        H:        H:        4:        4: 

Formerly  in  merchandising,  mere  bigness — the  great- 
ness of  the  institution  merchandised — was  supposed  to 
sweep  away  resistance  solely  because  of  overwhelming 
size.  In  those  days  the  smaller  concern  felt  at  an  immense 
disadvantage  in  competing  with  the  tremendous  multi- 
millionaire institutions,  whose  sales  organizations  were 

Copyright,  1915,  by  J.  Keeley. 


supposed  •  fo  ^bp;,  unbeatable.  Mere  brute  expenditure 
dominated  th^ii— ^but  not  today. 

Now  it  is  generally  realized  that  a  merchandising 
campaign  does  not  succeed  solely  because  of  the  size  of 
the  appropriation,  but  rather  because  of  the  big  idea 
upon  which  it  is  based. 

This  new  order  of  things  means  a  greater  necessity 
for  careful  analysis  than  ever  before.  It  means  that 
before  merchandising  is  begun,  before  advertising  pro- 
cedure is  undertaken,  before  a  definite  policy  of  sales 
promotion  is  established,  the  head  of  a  business  should 
give  serious  attention  to  the  vital,  underlying  elements 
which  differentiate  that  business  from  competition. 

Every  business  has  its  individualities,  its  specific 
traits,  and  if  it  is  a  good  business  it  possesses  special, 
favorable  talking  points.  It  is  in  connection  with  these 
basic  features  that  the  merchandiser  has  to  do  his  hardest 
thinking  and  here,  if  he  is  wise,  he  will  call  in  the  best 
constructive  "thinking  help"  he  can  secure. 

Anyone  who  has  ever  attended  a  factory  convention, 
where  the  ginger  spirit  is  rife,  knows  that  the  number  of 
talking  points,  the  quantity  of  inspirational  salesmanship 
material,  which  generates  in  the  heat  of  business  enthu- 
siasm— based  on  a  really  good  commodity — is  remarkable. 
Yet  to  attempt  to  "bunch'*  all  of  these  selling  arguments, 
all  of  these  merchandising  appeals,  all  of  this  advertising 
material,  would  be  to  confuse  the  entire  promotional 
effort  hopelessly. 

Therefore,  in  merchandising  plans,  in  summing  up 
selling  material,  in  arranging  advertising  effort,  elimination 
is  the  essential  thing. 

Tell  as  your  story  the  one  biggest,  most  humanly 
appealing  thing  about  your  product.  This  is  true  in  selling 
to  the  jobbers,  in  selling  to  the  dealer,  in  going  direct  to 
the  consumer. 

Human  nature  at  best  assimilates  slowly.  Selling 
arguments  are  quickly  forgotten,  advertisements  are 
hurriedly  read. 


The  thought  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  the  prospective 
buyer  is:  "What  is  the  one  reason  I  should  prefer  this 
article  to  all  the  others  of  the  same  class — not  a  confusing 
flood  of  reasons,  but  the  big,  upstanding  fact  which 
mighty  enough  to  con vmce  me  P^  "  "  —  ' 

""  And^so  1  say — and  commercial  history  bears  out  my 
words — that  it  is  the  big  idea  that  makes  the  merchan- 
dising campaign.  It  is  the  master  .selliDg  point,  in  com- 
parison with  which  all  others  dwindle,  that  carries  home. 
***** 

This  big  idea  may  be  in  the  product  itself,  it  may  be 
in  the  method  of  selling,  it  may  be  even  in  the  package 
or  container.  For  example,  a  famous  brand  of  biscuit 
probably  owes  its  biggest  success  not  to  a  quality  that  is 
unlike  other  biscuit,  but  to  the  way  freshness  and  purity 
are  preserved  because  of  the  protecting  selling-package. 

Sets  of  books  have  been  sold  in  this  day  when  it  is 
lamentably  true  that  the  library  is  losing  its  popularity, 
not  by  "starring"  entirely  the  worth  of  the  books,  the 
greatness  of  the  authors,  the  wonderful  mental  stimulus 
and  improvement  to  be  obtained  by  the  study  of  literary 
masterpieces,  so  much  as  by  the  method  of  sale.  The 
books  are  sent  on  approval,  without  advance  payment, 
and  a  trifling  amount  accepted  each  month.  In  this  case 
the  big  merchandising  idea  is  free  inspection,  price  and 
terms. 

In  other  cases  the  big  idea  in  merchandising  is  demon- 
stration, which  works  out  exceptionally  well  in  connection 
with  a  chain  of  business  houses  at  preferred  locations. 

Take  as  examples.  United  Cigar  Stores  products  and 
Rexall  remedies  and  toilet  goods.  Both  of  these  concerns 
are  organized  to  "put  over"  successfully  the  best  kind  of 
personal  demonstrations  in  their  stores  and  they  do  it 
continually  with  splendid  merchandising  effect.  Here,  the 
big  thought  is  putting  it  up  to  the  customer  in  person. 

And,  as  a  vital  part  of  merchandising,  advertising  has 


as  its  object  to  impress  upon  the  public  mind  one  big 
thought.     If  it  has  done  that  it  has  done  its  work  well. 

No  doubt  there  are  many  worth-while  facts  in  connec- 
tion with  Prudential  insurance.  Undoubtedly  this  pro- 
position bristles  with  important  selling  facts.  Yet 
because  this  company  years  ago  adopted  as  its  big  selling 
point  "strength"  and  typified  this  thought  by  a  repro- 
duction of  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar,  every  schoolboy  today 
associates  this  with  Prudential  insurance — a  fact  that  has 
had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  progress  of  this  enterprise. 

The  Great  Northern  Railway,  in  hundreds  of  direct 
and  indirect  ways,  has  given  publicity  to  the  slogan  *'See 
America  First."  People  have  said  that  this  slogan  is 
too  wide  in  application  to  be  of  tangible  benefit  to  the 
Great  Northern  Railway.  True,  "See  America  First" 
tends  to  create  a  desire  for  American  travel  which  will 
bring  good  to  other  transportation  lines  as  well  as  the 
Great  Northern.  But  this  company  builded  wisely. 
The  Great  Northern  people  knew  that  anything  which 
tends  to  stimulate  transcontinental  travel  in  America 
will  naturally  benefit  this  road. 

^         'I*         •!*         'i*         -I* 

When  you  compare  the  division  of  interest  of  a  many- 
topic  advertisement  with  the  smashing  single  force  of  a 
big  idea  that  stands  out  and  impresses,  you  will  realize 
why  so  many  businesses  hold  fast  to  the  one  master 
selling-point  that  has  proved  itself  right. 

I  have  said  that  every  good  business  has  within  itself 
this  one  greatest  talking  point,  in  comparison  with  which 
all  other  arguments  seem  inconsequential.  In  many 
businesses  this  big  idea  exists  but  has  never  been  dis- 
covered or  it  has  never  been  disentangled  from  minor 
talking  points  as  it  should  have  been.  In  many  cases 
the  big  idea  is  entirely  concealed  and  is  only  brought  to 
light  after  the  most  careful  analysis  and  painstaking 
research. 

The  big  idea  may  be  in  the  product  itself,  or  it  may 
be  in  the  sales  promotion  of  the  product.  In  either  case 
it  represents  the  fulcrum  of  the  lever  of  sales. 


Every  good  business  is  susceptible  to  good  merchan- 
dising— good  publicity. 

Every  good  business  which  will  endure  has,  some- 
where in  its  make-up,  a  big  idea  on  which  all  selling 
activities  should  be  centered. 

And  fortunate  is  the  business  which  early  discovers 
and  uses  in  all  its  promotional  efforts  this  single-barreled, 
bull's-eye-hitting.  Big  Idea. 


THE  GOLDEN  VALUE  OF  COURTESY 

THESE  are  days  of  intense  business  effort. 
Efficiency   engineers   are  in  demand.     Business 
is  organized  along  scientific  lines.    Waste  is  elimin- 
ated— production  increased — economy  is  rigidly  enforced. 
But  sometimes  it  strikes  one  that  while  the  heads-of- 
affairs  are  perfecting  to  the  finest  point  the  mechanics  of 
business,  the  human  element  is  sadly  overlooked. 

It  is  not  a  business  millennium  to  arrive  at  the  point 
where  everything  is  done  with  machinelike  exactness, 
where  mistakes  are  checked  and  rechecked  against,  until 
there  is  no  possibility  for  error,  and  people  go  through  a 
set  of  regulated  motions  daily  and  yearly  like  so  many 
automatons. 

Human  nature  is  a  great,  big  essential  in  business. 

•f*         "I*         •K         T»         ^ 

Far  more  important  than  business  details — upon  which 
stress  is  wisely  laid,  but  which  still  remain  details — is  the 
ability  to  meet  people  on  a  common  human  ground,  to 
waken  in  them  responsive  interest  and  friendly  feeling. 

A  retail  store  may  be  conducted  upon  lines  absolutely 
beyond  criticism  so  far  as  correct  merchandising  methods 
are  concerned;  employes,  from  general  manager  to  stock- 
boy  may  be  so  carefully  rehearsed  in  the  minutiae  of 
daily  transactions  that  things  will  run  with  clockwork 
precision,  yet  the  whole  business  may  be  as  bloodless  as 
a  mummy. 

Another  thing  which  clogs  the  wheels  of  real  progress 
is  superdignity.  In  many  offices  the  reception  is  so 
austere  and  chilling  that  a  prospective  customer  who 
may  have  called  in  a  warmly  responsive  mood  has  his 
ardor  dampened,  his  enthusiasm  congealed,  before  he  is 
fairly  across  the  threshold. 

Copyright,  1915,  by  J.  Keeley. 


Such  businesses  may  be  in  the  present,  but  they  are 
not  of  the  present.  They  belong  back  in  the  kerosene  age. 
Even  in  modern  banking  institutions  conducted  on  live, 
twentieth-century  lines,  the  tip-toeing  of  side-whiskered 
dignitaries,  the  servile  obeisance  of  pussy-footed  clerks, 
the  solemn  silence  over  all,  has  given  way  to  normal, 
wholesome  business  activity. 

Assuredly,  pomp  and  merchandising  do  not  go  to- 
gether. If  you  create  around  your  business  a  wall  of 
resistance  —  built  of  an  exaggerated  idea  of  your  own 
importance — customers  will  not  climb  over  it. 

He        H«        He         *        H: 

Democracy  is  the  order  of  the  day. 

I  have  visited  small  offices  where  the  clerk  at  the 
information  desk  must  be  approached  like  a  royal  poten- 
tate, with  a  salaam  and  shoes  in  hand.  I  have  visited 
big,  worth-while  businesses  where  the  "old  man"  was 
instantly  seeable  and  a  good-natured  freedom  from 
pretense  and  pose  permeated  the  entire  establishment. 

More  business  than  many  people  suppose  is  built  on 
the  solid  basis  of  good  nature — contagious  friendliness — 
real  courtesy. 

Heaven  knows  it  is  an  inexpensive  virtue,  but  it  is 
by  no  means  common. 

If  I  were  launching,  we'll  say,  a  retail  business,  I 
believe  that,  first  of  all,  I'd  get  all  my  salesfolk  together 
and  talk  to  them  somewhat  like  this: 

"We  are  all  human  and  mistakes  are  human,  too. 
Not  one  of  us  is  going  through  this  business  routine  day 
after  day  without  a  slip. 

"If  there  were  not  an  error  once  in  a  while  I  would 
think  that  there  was  too  much  perfection,  and  I'd  know 
that  you  had  so  transformed  yourself  into  selling  machines 
that  you  had  extinguished  the  vital  spark  of  human 
intelligence  and  human  sympathy. 

"But  there  is  one  mistake  that  there  is  no  earthly 
reason  for  you  to  make — for  which  there  is  no  palliating 
excuse. 


"It  is  the  crime  unforgivable  in  this  business, 
"And  it  is  lack  of  courtesy." 

Indifference  and  offensive  mannerisms  on  the  part  of 
subordinates  have  lost  sales  and  made  business  enemies 
which  have  represented  a  deficit  of  millions  of  dollars  in 
the  history  of  modern  business.  Just  ordinary  politeness 
frequently  makes  a  bigger  showing  on  the  sales  slips  than 
thirty-third  degree,  scientific  salesmanship. 

The  trouble  with  a  great  many  salesmen  and  sales- 
women who  have  been  schooled  in  the  psychology  of 
selling  is  that,  having  mastered  the  problem,  they  are  so 
overwhelmed  with  their  own  importance  that  they  forget 
that  psychology  means  plain  human  nature,  and  they  are 
entirely  too  convinced  of  their  own  cleverness  and  their 
gift  of  analysis,  to  make  a  sale  in  a  plain,  human,  friendly 
way. 

Usually  the  head  of  the  business  really  stands  for 
genuine,  human  service  to  customers — the  fine  art  of 
courtesy.  Frequently  the  general  manager  of  an  institu- 
tion does  much  to  pass  the  spirit  along.  The  merchandis- 
ing manager  is  thoroughly  in  harmony  with  this  idea. 
The  advertising  man,  in  his  copy,  breathes  the  message 
of  welcome  and  square,  courteous  dealing.  But  some  one 
shies  a  monkey-wrench  in  the  machinery  before  it  goes 
much  further.  It  is  the  result  of  a  lack  of  harmony — 
of  failure  to  carry  out  all  along  the  line  the  esprit  de  corps 
of  the  institution. 

:(:         :{:         Hi         H^         H( 

It  is  disheartening — it  is  certainly  discouraging  to 
sales — to  enter  an  institution  sort  of  bubbling  with 
friendliness — the  result  of  the  firm's  cordial  message  and 
sincere  appreciation  of  your  trade — and  then  to  be  met 
by  an  individual  who  sizes  you  up  disdainfully  and  waits 
on  you  at  his  or  her  own  sweet  time. 

It  is  "riling"  to  pause  while  Kittie  and  Minnie  discuss 
the  new  floorwalker  and  their  latest  gifts  in  wrist  watches 
and  lavallieres.  It  is  infuriating  to  have  a  dapper 
"Bunker  Bean"  style  of  youth  insist  that  your  own  taste 


is  bourgeois,  and  that  you  should  purchase  this  or  that 
article  for  the  final,  indisputable  reason  that  he  wears 
one  himself. 

There  should  be  no  forgiveness — no  punishment  short 
of  boiling  in  oil — ^for  the  party  who  fails  to  cover  a  sneer 
when  you  ask  for  an  article  at  a  certain  price,  assuring 
you  patronizingly  that  no  one  who  is  anyone  thinks  of 
paying  less  than  49  cents  more. 

***** 

In  modern  living  the  opportunity  for  rubbing  the 
''subject"  the  wrong  way  is  a  million-fold.  Over  telephones, 
on  street  cars,  in  elevators,  theatre  box  oflSces — ^yes,  even 
in  churches — this  "public  be  squelched'*  policy  is  in  great 
vogue.  Somehow  it  is  regarded  as  the  proper  professional 
attitude  to  be  aloof,  ungracious,  condescending  or  stolidly 
indifferent. 

It  isn't  professional.  It  is  simply  proof  of  abysmal 
ignorance. 

I  honestly  believe  that  if  an  amount  of  time  equal  to 
that  devoted  to  the  perfection  of  human  beings  as  mer- 
chandising machines  were  spent  on  making  merchandising 
machines  human  beings,  it  would  mean  a  tremendous 
impetus  in  sales. 

If  in  every  business  institution  as  much  appreciation, 
as  full  credit,  were  given  the  employe  who  radiates  sun- 
shine, who  has  unfailing  patience  and  intelligent  sympathy, 
as  to  the  one  who  masters  severe  technical  difficulties,  I 
am  mighty  sure  that  business  would  go  ahead  faster. 

Intelligence,  initiative  and  courtesy  are  three  big 
requirements  in  selling. 

And  the  greatest  of  these  is  courtesy. 


STORMING  THE  MARKET  BY 
MASTER  MERCHANDISING 

THESE  are  the  days  of  brave  business  victories — 
the  times  when  small,  timid  craft  hug  the  shore. 
The  faint-hearted  business  man  goes  out  at 
dawn,  scans  the  horizon,  and  if  even  the  shadow  of  a 
cloud  is  visible,  plans  further  retrenchment. 

Just  because  of  this  condition,  courage — supreme  con- 
fidence— accomplishes  more  today,  I  believe,  than  ever 
before.  And  the  man's-size  business  man  is  reaping  his 
just  rewards. 

True,  there  is  war  in  Europe.  The  Mexican  turmoil 
continues.  There  are  abundant  loopholes  and  excuses, 
all  of  which  merely  clear  the  field  for  the  real  giants  of 
action. 

Now,  don't  misunderstand  me.  It  is  not  simply  the 
business  of  enormous  size  that  is  going  into  the  fight 
today  to  win.  As  a  recent  writer  in  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post  clearly  proved,  "little  business  is  cleaving  its  way  to 
the  fore  with  the  sharp  sword  of  service."  Size  has  little 
or  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

This  is  the  success-time  of  the  business  with  big 
aspirations  and  determinations,  which,  no  matter  what 
its  size  or  where  it  stands,  is  willing  to  face  the  front  and 
fight. 

No  matter  from  where  you  look  at  it,  the  opportunity 
is  here  for  the  manufacturer  or  seller  who  possesses  the 
gameness  to  meet  present  conditions  and  overwhelm  them. 
Now,  if  ever,  is  the  time  to  storm  the  market. 

In  certain  quarters  there  has  been  a  lull.  It  is  common 
to  hear  business  men  of  the  class  which  thrives  on  doubt 
and  magnifies  disaster  declare  that  business  is  "so  many 
points  off."  Then  they  sit  down  resignedly  to  compute 
their  losses.     This  is  very  human — also  it  is  worse  than 

Copyright,  1915,  by  J.  Keeley. 


futile.  It  is  an  illustration  of  the  spirit  which  needs 
eternal  encouragement,  continual  bolstering,  to  make 
success  possible,  even  under  the  most  favorable  conditions. 

There  is  a  different  type  of  business  man,  however, 
representative  of  the  finest  stuff  of  which  American 
commerce  is  built.  These  are  men  who  have  the  power 
to  rebound,  men  with  just  the  right  mixture  of  shrewdness 
and  optimism,  men  to  whom  no  day  is  all  sunshine  or  all 
shadow. 

They  recognize  unfavorable  conditions,  but  only  to 
take  them  wisely  into  account  in  formulating  ways  and 
means  to  surmount  them.  These  men,  you  will  note,  are 
not  carried  away  in  the  mad  rush  when  all  signs  are  favor- 
able. They  know  that  the  law  of  compensation  exists, 
that  in  some  way,  somehow,  things  will  balance  up  with 
surprising  regularity. 

There  is  under  all  business  conditions  a  way  to  greater 
sales  and  profits,  if  it  is  only  searched  out  and  taken 
advantage  of.  This  point  is  sure:  it  is  not  along  the 
most  heavily  traveled  road,  not  in  following  the  other 
fellow. 

Just  at  this  time,  when  others  are  complaining  that 
business  is  off,  when  others  are  planning  to  defer  their 
efforts  just  a  little  longer,  wise  men,  who  have  the  bigness 
of  courage,  plan  to  storm  the  market.  This  has  already 
been  done  by  certain  wise  ones  in  different  lines.  They 
found  competition  asleep,  stole  a  march  and  won  the  bat- 
tle. Others  are  planning  the  same  course.  They  are  not 
many — these  cashers-in  on  present  opportunity — and 
their  success  is  consequently  greater. 

There  are  a  dozen  different  lines  of  business  which 
I  could  name  where  opportunity  is  ripe  and  the  field  is 
waiting  to  be  conquered  by  a  broadside  of  concerted, 
concentrated  effort. 

When  there  is  no  war  cloud  on  the  horizon,  when  all 
money  is  freely  in  circulation,  when  confidence  is  in  every- 
body's heart,  the  campaign  spirit,  the  vim  and  deter- 
mination  to   achieve   the   highest   success   is   universal. 


11 


Then  there  is  no  lethargy,  no  sleeping  at  the  switch.     The 
game  is  harder,  the  results  accordingly  more  divided. 
But  now  the  race  is  to  the  fleet  and  to  the  few. 

4c         :ic         H<         H^         ^ 

If  you  are  a  manufacturer  or  distributor  of  high-grade 
merchandise,  if  you  are  in  a  position  to  meet  demand  at 
a  profit,  your  opportunity  is  here  and  now.  Storm  the 
market,  generate  greater  selling  energy,  right  at  this  time. 

The  race  of  buyers  has  not  ceased  to  exist.  Another 
year  of  good  crops  makes  this  the  most  favored  of  all 
lands  beneath  the  sun.  Buyers  are  taking  courage.  Not 
merely  are  they  spending  money  for  necessities — they  are 
looking  with  appreciative  eyes  toward  the  finer  luxuries. 

A  bountiful  harvest  awaits  those  who  are  organized 
to  cash  in  on  this  profitable  demand. 

Real  merchandising  activity  not  only  bridges  business 
depression;  it  builds  the  way  to  future  sales;  it  revivifies 
and  stimulates.  It  injects  new  life  and  impetus  into 
wholesale  and  retail  trade;  it  impresses  the  product  upon 
the  consumer  at  the  moment  when  such  an  impression 
will  be  most  clearly  recorded.  It  commands  the  center 
of  the  stage,  the  glare  of  the  spotlight  when  there  are 
few  other  performances  to  distract. 

One  thing  to  bear  in  mind  is  that  it  is  easy  to  misjudge 
the  mental  attitude  of  the  consumer.  A  little  pilgrimage 
down  the  main  shopping  street  of  any  of  the  leading  cities 
will  convince  the  most  cynical  that  folks  are  not  staying 
at  home  guarding  the  meager  hoard  concealed  in  a  woolen 
stocking. 

This  year's  shopping  season  is  showing  a  healthy 
activity.  Stores  are  comfortably  filled  with  actual 
buyers.  Purchases  are  not  hand-to-mouth;  neither 
are  they  extravagant.  They  are  just  normal — made  as 
though  the  buyer  anticipated  neither  a  millennium  nor  a 
crash. 

This  winter  opened  with  industrial  conditions  in  far 
better  shape.     There  are  few  really  energetic  and  willing 

12 


people  out  of  a  job.  Mills  and  factories  are  running. 
The  country  people  are  equally  prosperous.  They  are 
close  to  the  crops  and  have  been  quick  to  feel  the  returns. 
Mail  order  enterprises  report  an  appreciable  increase  in 
business  over  this  time  last  year. 

All  in  all,  the  people  themselves  show  greater  con- 
fidence, a  truer  grasp  on  optimism  and  are  better  boosters 
than  the  manufacturers. 

The  latter — many  of  them — are  still  waiting  for  some 
mystic  sign,  some  bow  of  promise  flung  across  the  heavens 
pointing  to  a  pot  of  golden  sales. 

Meanwhile,  a  little  bit  of  courage,  a  willingness  to  go 
ahead  decisively,  a  real  determination  to  storm  the  market 
by  aggressive  merchandising  effort,  by  more  efficient 
salesmanship,  more  powerful  and  productive  advertising, 
will  win  unusual  results. 


Mr.  Manufacturer  or  Distributor,  move  your  mer- 
chandise, get  the  new  impulse  —  NOW.  Perhaps  never 
again  will  there  be  offered  such  an  opportunity  to  dominate 
your  field,  such  a  chance  to  fill  the  public  mind  with  the 
quality  of  your  product  and  do  it  so  economically. 

Advertising  is  either  good  for  all  the  time  or  good  for 
no  time.  Red-blooded  salesmanship  is  essential  twelve 
months  in  the  year  of  every  year  of  your  business  lifetime. 

If  you  regard  a  carefully  completed,  perfectly  organ- 
ized merchandising-advertising  campaign  as  a  luxury 
which  you  can  afford  only  in  the  brightest  prosperity 
times,  you  have  a  total  misconception  of  the  meaning  of — 
the  reason  for — promotional  effort. 

Keen  merchandising  plus  live  advertising  is  a  means 
of  best  meeting  every  business  condition,  of  filling  business 
gaps,  of  bridging  business  crises.  These  twin  forces  offer 
you,  if  you  are  at  the  head  of  a  legitimate  business, 
an  opportunity  to  storm  the  market  and  win  success 
while  competition  nods. 

And,  I  honestly  believe,  "never  so  much  so  as  now." 

13 


HARMONIZE  THE  SELLING  EFFORT 

EVERY  year  the  game  of  selling  grows  more  difficult 
because  competition  assumes  more  serious  pro- 
portions. Time  was  when  the  manufacturer  of 
a  quality  article  could  go  out  and  sell  on  merit  alone. 
There  was  so  much  inferior  merchandise,  so  much  trickery 
and  subterfuge  were  resorted  to,  so  common  was  the 
tendency  to  "put  something  over"  the  buyer,  that  goods 
which  really  possessed  worth  and  which  were  offered 
honestly  on  a  fair  deal  basis  were  rare  enough  to  command 
hearty  support.  If  distribution  was  right,  the  goods 
largely  sold  themselves. 

It  was  in  that  former  day  that  the  fallacious  philosophy 
was  framed,  *Tf  you  are  making  mouse  traps  and  making 
them  good  enough,  even  in  the  heart  of  a  wilderness,  the 
world  will  wear  a  path  to  your  door." 

The  buying  world  is  not  wearing  paths  anywhere,  so 
that  you  could  notice  it.  The  only  paths  that  are  being 
worn  are  leveled  by  the  modern  mouse-trap  maker — and 
his  counterpart  in  other  lines  of  production — who  smooth 
the  way  and  pave  it  with  good,  hard  labor  to  the  doorstep 
of  the  distant  consumer. 

Salesmanship  has  become  more  and  more  a  man's 
game — a  big  man's  game — calling  for  unfailing  initiative, 
ceaseless  vigilance  and  actual  productive  work.  The 
old-time  "substitutes"  for  genuine  salesmanship  have 
vanished  in  Time's  discard. 

"Good-fellowship" — in  the  sporting  acceptance  of  the 
term — moist  evenings  and  sea-going  cabs — no  longer  plays 
a  stellar  part  in  the  closing  of  large  contracts.  Today,  to 
be  a  real  salesman,  a  clear  brain,  steady  nerves  and 
bounding  health  are  vital  requisites.  Today,  buying  is 
done  by  comparison,  investigation  and  analysis,  and  the 
salesman  must  be  able,  every  minute  of  the  time,  to  prove 

14 


his  proposition — to  do  the  sum  without  recourse  to  the 
answers  in  the  back  of  the  book. 

In  the  "old  days"  every  salesman  was  a  free-lance  as 
to  method.  Men  went  "upon  the  road,*'journeyed  more 
or  less  at  their  own  sweet  will,  talked  what  came  into 
their  minds,  and  succeeded  or  failed  according  to  the 
amount  of  business  they  could  annex  on  a  friendship 
basis.  But  there  are  fewer  "friendship  links'*  in  modern 
business. 

In  the  olden  times,  the  selling  and  merchandising  plans 
were  so  loosely  made  that  it  was  not  uncommon  for  one 
salesman  to  cross  another's  trail,  for  two  men  from  the 
same  house  to  be  working  on  the  same  "prospect,"  each 
in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  the  other  man  was 
calling.  And  it  was  most  likely  that  these  two  salesmen 
were  presenting  lines  of  talk  which  absolutely  conflicted. 

Then  scientific  merchandising  came — and  organized 
salesmanship.  It  took  a  long  time  to  uproot  some  of  the 
old  traditions.  There  was  strenuous  opposition,  especially 
from  "star"  salesmen  who  refused  to  be  harmonized  with 
the  new,  concerted  plan  of  action. 

In  many  businesses  today  there  is  still  need  for  better 
selling  organization.  But  the  new  generation  of  sales- 
men— not  necessarily  the  younger  generation,  mind  you, 
but  representatives  of  the  new-thinking  type  of  business 
boosters — are  strong  for  the  organization  policy.  They 
have  not  lost  their  individuality  or  submerged  their  per- 
sonality. They  march  under  the  harmony  flag.  They 
are  the  go-getters  of  today. 

As  I  emphasized  in  a  previous  article,  there  is  almost 
invariably  one  big  idea,  one  master  merchandising  thought 
in  every  business.  When  this  one  big  idea  is  located  it 
should  become  the  basis  of  all  salesmanship  on  the  proposi- 
tion. It  should  become  the  dominating  argument  of 
every  salesman.  It  should  saturate  his  every  solicitation. 
And  all  additions  made  by  a  firm  to  its  selling  staff  should 
multiply  by  so  many  man-power  the  spread  of  this 
integral  sales  idea. 


IS 


One  need  know  nothing  of  the  laws  of  physics  to 
realize  that  friction  means  lost  motion.  The  only  value 
of  selling-force  lies  in  delivered  power.  And  it  is  the  wise 
man-of-business  who  makes  sure  that  every  member  of 
his  promotional  organization — be  he  merchandise  mana- 
ger, sales  chief,  advertising  manager  or  individual  in  any 
of  these  departments — is  a  smooth-working  unit,  lubri- 
cated with  loyalty.  The  whole  sales  organization  should 
be  "built  like  a  full  jeweled  watch,"  each  part  working 
with  perfect  "compensation"  into  the  other. 


Especially  is  it  essential  that  the  sales  department  and 
the  advertising  department  should  work  with  absolute 
oneness  of  purpose.  Formerly  this  was  a  serious  friction 
point.  Often  the  sales  manager  believed  that  every 
penny  of  promotional  money  expended  in  channels  other 
than  his  own  department  was  a  dead  loss  to  the  concern. 
He  was  prone  to  bristle  at  the  very  word  "advertising" 
as  the  new-fangled  means  of  separating  "the  old  man" 
from  his  capital. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  advertising  manager  frequently 
was  more  jealous  than  zealous.  He  overestimated  the 
importance  of  his  position,  overestimated  the  importance 
of  advertising.  With  a  pleasing  little  case  of  animosity 
such  as  this  brewing  in  about  50  per  cent  of  all  large 
businesses,  harmonizing  the  advertising  and  selling 
departments  in  those  days  resembled  an  effort  to  fraternal- 
ize  a  pair  of  strange  bulldogs. 

But  time  has  mended  matters.  Now  the  sales  nlanager 
knows  that  the  business  of  the  present  and  future  is,  to 
a  large  extent,  the  advertised  business.  He  knows  what 
advertising  does  in  creating  consumer-sales,  what  its 
co-operation  means  in  the  work  of  his  men  upon  dealers. 
Furthermore,  he  has  found  that  a  good  advertising 
manager  is  the  best  working  partner  he  ever  had,  or 
could  have. 

The  advertising  manager,  too,  has  experienced  a 
change  of  heart.     He  has  come  to  realize  that  his  is  a 

16 


part — a  most  important  part — but  nevertheless  only  one 
division  of  the  whole.  He  realizes  that  advertising  needs 
the  co-operation  of  live,  human  salesmanship.  He  has 
discovered  that  the  best  advertising  of  the  day  is  not  the 
kind  that  is  prepared  in  the  solitudes,  but  in  the  actual 
field,  in  contact  and  co-operation  with  the  selling  depart- 
ment. 

Modern  merchandising  campaigns  are  often  the  result 
of  months  of  preliminary  work.  The  heads  of  the  busi- 
ness, the  sales  manager,  the  advertising  manager  and  the 
advertising  agent  give  to  these  conferences  the  best  that 
each  has.  The  entire  merchandising  procedure  is  carefully 
laid  out,  the  market  is  studied,  the  demand  is  analyzed. 
Accurate  information  is  secured  on  per  capita  consump- 
tion; competition  is  weighed  with  full  allowance  for  its 
strength;  inquiry  is  made  into  the  relative  prosperity  of 
different  territories. 

Thus  the  entire  advertising  campaign  is  shaped  in 
advance.  And  from  the  beginning  all  sales-effort  ham- 
mers away  at  one  spot,  literally  shattering  resistance. 

In  the  most  advanced  type  of  modern  enterprises 
there  is  no  longer  lost  motion  in  seeking  to  align  the 
different  promotional  departments  of  a  business.  They 
are  aligned  to  start  with.  And — in  perfect  co-operation — 
they  win. 


17 


A  MERCHANDISING  TALK 
TO  THE  CONSUMER 

WHAT  interest  have  you,  as  a  consumer,  in  the 
merchadising  of  what  you  buy? 
This  may   strike  you  as   a  somewhat  unusual 
question. 

Your  natural  impulse  probably  will  be  to  reply, 
"None  at  all." 

And  on  this  subject  of  merchandising  methods  your 
position  logically  is  a  passive  one. 

You  assume,  and  rightly,  that  it  is  the  business  of  a 
manufacturer  or  distributor  of  a  product  to  make  it  easy 
for  you  to  buy,  to  make  the  price  one  that  will  represent 
true  economy  to  you,  to  bring  his  product  to  your  atten- 
tion through  dealers  and  through  publicity. 

It  is  plainly  to  the  advantage  of  the  man  who  sells  to 
plan  his  merchandising  so  aggressively  that  you  will  be 
inspired  to  buy — will  find  it  to  your  advantage  to  keep  on 
buying. 

But  merchandising  considered  from  the  consumer's 
point  of  view  as  a  genuine  asset  to  the  buyer — well,  that's 
a  different  proposition. 

Let  us  determine  whether,  after  all,  you  don't  share 
with  the  manufacturer  in  the  benefits  of  his  merchandising 
message,  which  you  receive  in  many  different  forms. 

Your  grocer  or  druggist  may  pass  the  tidings  to  you. 
You  may  read  it  in  public  print.  In  any  case,  it  is  buying 
news,  and  it  is  interesting  to  you. 

There  is  no  disputing  the  fact  that  nothing  is  so  appeal- 
ing to  those  of  us  who  are  wholesomely,  normally  selfish 
as  that  which  conveys  a  suggestion  of  personal  benefit. 

We  are  affected  by  merchandising,  whether  consciously 

Copyright  1915,  by  J.  Keeley. 

18 


or  unconsciously,  with  this  idea  of  personal  benefit  in 
mind.     We  welcome  business  tidings. 

In  a  few  isolated  cases  in  the  past,  newspapers  and 
other  publications  have  tried  the  experiment  of  filling 
their  columns  with  "pure"  reading  matter,  to  the  exclusion 
of  business  announcements,  with  the  mistaken  theory  in 
mind  that  the  reader  pays  only  for  such  "pure"  reading 
matter  and  should  not  be  compelled  to  have  business 
facts  forced  down  his  or  her  throat.  But  that  this  was  a 
mistake  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  experiment  was 
quickly  discontinued. 

The  readers  objected,  showing  that  they  placed  a 
proper  value  on  the  importance  of  buying  news,  as  well 
as  of  the  world's  more  distant  and  impersonal  happenings. 

An  eastern  publication  had  a  misunderstanding  with 
a  leading  department  store  in  its  city.  This  merchant 
withdrew  all  advertising  patronage  from  the  paper  in 
question.  The  result  was  an  enormous  falling  off  in  the 
circulation  of  the  paper,  showing  that  a  large  number  of 
people  actually  bought  the  paper  to  keep  in  touch  with 
this  store's  offerings. 

:{c         :ic         4:         4^         H< 

It  is  an  old  but  true  story — that  of  the  brilliant 
commentary  on  American  business  literature  made  by 
Rudyard  Kipling.  An  American  friend  mailed  him  a 
package  of  magazines,  and  in  order  to  economize  in 
carriage  charges,  tore  off  everything  except  the  text  pages. 

Kiphng  wrote:  "Next  time  send  the  advertising 
pages  and  keep  the  rest.     I  can  write  the  stories  myself." 

Modern  business  literature  is  literature.  It  is  the 
product  of  some  of  the  ablest  writers  in  the  country.  It 
has  human  appeal — the  cardinal  virtues  of  brevity,  force 
and  conviction. 

Commercial  art  today  is  on  a  remarkably  high  plane. 
Thus,  the  merchandising  message  is  of  interest  to  the 
consumer  because  of  its  intimate  personal  import,  because 
of  its  interesting,  seasonable  news,  its  literary  and  artistic 
worth. 


19 


But,  most  of  all,  you  should  be  interested  in  modern 
merchandising  methods,  in  promotional  publicity,  because 
it  represents  a  definite  service  to  the  consumer.  It  is 
the  modern  means  of  connecting  the  demand  with  the 
supply,  of  guiding  the  purchaser  to  the  best  and  most 
reliable  merchandise,  of  saving  him  money. 

In  this  advanced  day,  selling  campaigns  must  be 
legitimate,  truthful  in  statement;  the  goods  must  back 
up  verbal  and  printed  promises.  And  manufacturers 
more  than  ever  have  come  to  realize  that  square  dealing 
is  good  business,  that  only  quality  goods  mean  "repeat" 
sales.  And  a  repeat  sale,  dear  reader,  in  merchandising 
vernacular,  means  a  voluntary  purchase  for  a  second  or 
subsequent  time  because  you  find  the  article  absolutely 
as  represented. 

Aggressive  merchandising  and  vigorous  advertising  are 
the  best  proofs  that  a  manufacturer  believes  in  his  goods. 
They  are  the  best  guarantee  a  customer  can  have  that 
the  manufacturer  will  keep  the  quality  up. 

Linked  with  the  history  of  successful  merchandising 
and  advertising  campaigns,  is  the  history  of  improved 
merchandise.  Most  of  us  do  not  need  to  strain  our 
memories  to  recall  the  time  when  men's  ready-to-wear 
clothes  were  mostly  of  the  comic  valentine  variety;  when 
to  wear  "hand-me-downs"  was  a  mark  not  only  of 
depleted  purse  but  of  willingness  to  bear  the  slings  and 
arrows  of  all  men  who  wore  normal  garments. 

Ready-to-wear  clothes  were  then  on  a  par  with  imita- 
tion diamonds.  They  were  apparel  that  proclaimed  the 
man  to  his  utter  disparagement. 

Then  came  a  revolutionary  campaign  of  clothes 
merchandising  and  publicity,  and,  in  the  same  step,  came 
quality  clothes.  Today  bankers — high-salaried  men — 
professional  men — do  not  blush  to  wear  one  of  the  well- 
known  brands  of  ready-tailored  clothes. 

Take  food  products.  When  food  publicity  was  in  its 
infancy,  adulteration  ran  riot.     Then  the  housewife  was 

20 


not  to  be  blamed  for  making  her  own  bread,  putting  up 
her  own  preserves,  for  cooking  on  Saturday  the  family 
supply  of  baked  beans.  Pure  food  advertising  came,  and 
along  with  it  came  pure  food  manufacture. 

Canners  and  preservers  adopted  the  most  rigorous 
standards.  They  insisted  on  materials  that  were  above 
suspicion.  Their  processes  were  right,  their  product  clean 
made.  And  American  women  responded  right  willingly. 
Food  advertising,  advertising  that  invited  inspection, 
that  proved  purity,  made  all  this  possible. 


Go  through  the  whole  list  of  everyday  household, 
personal  and  business  requirements.  You  will  find  that 
in  every  hour  of  your  daily  life,  in  almost  every  human 
action,  you  make  use  in  some  way  of  advertised  things. 
You  quickly  prove  that  your  life  is  guided  by  merchan- 
dising and  advertising,  whether  or  not  you  have  ever 
realized  it  before. 

You  buy  crackers  in  package  form,  you  wear  rubber 
heels,  you  shave  with  a  safety  or  use  certain  advertised 
toilet  accessories.  You  probably  eat  an  advertised  cereal 
for  breakfast,  drop  advertised  sugar  in  your  advertised 
coffee,  spread  toast  made  of  advertised  bread  with 
advertised  butter.  Your  home  is  decorated  with  adver- 
tised paint  products. 

Advertised  books  are  in  your  advertised  bookcases. 
You  hunt  with  advertised  guns  and  shoot  advertised 
shells;  fish  with  advertised  rods  and  reels.  From  cellar 
to  garret  your  house  is  supplied  with  advertised,  labor- 
saving,  comfort-bringing  appliances.  You  ride  in  adver- 
tised trains  over  advertised  roads  and  tour  in  advertised 
automobiles.  You  smoke  advertised  tobacco,  chew 
advertised  gum.  You  witness  advertised  amusements  in 
advertised  theaters. 

So,  advertising  permeates  and  flavors  your  whole  life. 
Your  children  are  cradled  in  advertised  bassinets,  they 
ride  in  advertised  go-carts;    and,  finally,  you  are  tucked 

21 


away  in  an  advertised  casket,  and  your  family  lives 
prosperously  on  the  payments  of  advertised  life  insurance 
policies.    Advertising  is  with  you  always. 


And  here's  another  thought  for  the  consumer  to  bear 
in  mind  in  thinking  of  advertising: 

There  is  no  other  modern  force  that  has  proved  such 
an  economic  factor  in  reducing  the  cost  of  buying  and 
selling. 

Because  of  advertising,  and  consequently  increased 
markets,  manufacturing  costs  are  lower,  distribution 
channels  are  wider,  sales  flow  in  stronger  streams. 

And  all  of  this — the  direct  result  of  the  enormous 
demand  created  by  and  through  advertising — means 
lower  selling  cost,  the  more  economical  purchase  of 
necessities  and  luxuries  by  the  consumer. 

Advertising  pays.     Aggressive  merchandising  pays. 

That's  a  big,  indisputable  fact  in  modern  business. 

And  to  this  I  want  to  add,  as  emphatically  as  I  can 
say  it,  that — 

Advertising  and  merchandising  j)ay  the  consumer. 


22 


TERRITORIAL  MERCHANDISING 

HUMAN  nature,  I  have  become  convinced,  is  pretty- 
much  the  same,  regardless  of  latitude  and  longi- 
tude. The  Icelander  and  the  Patagonian  have 
much  in  common.  And  anything  that  is  really  worth 
selling  has  sales  opportunities  almost  everywhere. 

True,  the  pink  sporting  sheets  at  Gus  the  Barber's 
have  been  declared  poor  media  for  the  sale  of  religious 
literature  and  Palm  Beach  suits  will  merchandise  slowly 
in  Alaska. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  most  enthusiastic  patrons  of 
the  wildest  Metropolitan  gaieties  are  ruralites  from  the 
hinterland,  while  the  city  folk  ecstatically  admire  Nature's 
solitudes. 

Which  is  all  by  way  of  saying  that  Reggie  Van  Alstyne 
of  Broadway  and  Timothy  Tassel  of  Winnamac,  Ind.,  are 
brothers  beneath  the  skin,  and  that  Palmyra  Prim  of 
Boston  and  Gertie  Orangeblossom  of  Southern  California 
have  tastes  and  ambitions  more  similar  than  you  might 
surmise. 

So  the  merchandiser  of  a  new  product,  at  the  inception 
of  a  new  selling  campaign,  can  secure  pretty  convincing 
evidence  as  to  how  a  proposition  is  going  to  take  hold  in 
other  places  when  he  tries  it  out  in  one. 

Of  course,  there  are  exceptions.  There  are  instances 
where  the  verdict  of  one  section  of  the  country  reverses 
the  judgment  of  another  section.  But  they  are  rare. 
Given  a  fair  measure  of  average  national  prosperity,  a 
staple  that  sells  in  one  part  of  the  country  can  be  made 
to  sell  with  equal  success  in  the  extreme  opposite  corner. 

The  new  merchandising,  the  modern  way  of  minimizing 
all  risk  of  heavy  loss,  of  providing  in  advance  for  every 
variety  of  difficulty,  is  in  accordance  with  correct  mer- 
chandising science.     It  is  Territorial  Merchandising. 

Copyrisrht,  1915,  by  J.  Keeley. 

23 


Territorial  merchandising,  by  which  is  meant  covering 
the  country  from  a  comparatively  small  beginning — 
increasing  the  expenditure  and  dimensions  as  methods 
are  determined  right  and  experience  guides  the  way,  is 
the  wisest  way  to  build  success. 

Many  a  potential  captain  of  industry,  the  head  of  a 
concern  which  has  in  it  every  true  success-quality,  hesi- 
tates because  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  go  aggressively 
after  the  National  market.  He  stands  still,  feeling 
incompetent  and  inefficient,  simply  because  he  has  not 
the  financial  seven-league  boots  of  his  longer-established 
and  more  heavily  financed  competitors.  Perhaps  he 
attempts  to  spread  merchandising  effort  thinly  over  all 
the  country,  when  he  might  make  a  worth  while  showing 
in  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin. 

This  centralization  of  effort  in  one  part  of  the  country 
at  a  time  permits  mobilizing  your  sales  force,  concentrating 
the  best  fighting  men,  centering  the  advertising  fire  in  a 
single  spot  where  you  can  accurately  gauge  results. 

It  means  dominating  the  situation — establishing  a 
permanent  dent  where  it  will  do  the  most  good.  It  means 
gaining  a  wonderfully  valuable  first-hand  idea  of  the 
market — an  intimate  study  of  distribution  channels.  It 
means  an  opportunity  to  correct  mistakes  before  they 
have  become  costly.  It  means  normal  growth — sym- 
metrical development.  It  means  going  fast  by  going 
with  reasonable  slowness — in  the  right  direction. 

It  does  not  require  a  fortune  to  launch  a  territorial 
advertising-merchandising  campaign.  In  large  part,  a 
campaign  of  this  kind  can  be  made  to  finance  itself. 

It  is  the  best  way  I  know  of  to  start  the  conquest  of 
the  American  market. 

Modern  merchandising  is  business  building.  This 
being  true,  there  is  a  valuable  lesson  in  studying  the  way 
houses,  bridges,  walls  and  skyscrapers  are  built — stone 
upon  stone — piece  upon  piece — beam  upon  beam.  No 
sane  builder  would  try  to  cast  the  framework  of  the 

24 


Woolworth  Building  in  a  single  mold.  It  would  make  for 
neither  economy  in  production  nor  efficiency  in  structure. 

In  just  the  same  way,  the  most  scientific — the  safest 
method  of  covering  America  with  a  merchandising  propa- 
ganda, is  to  take  it  section  by  section,  broadening  as 
distribution  broadens  —  focusing  the  efforts  of  your 
business  on  the  restricted  area  you  are  working,  getting 
there  on  the  firing  line  yourself,  advertising  with  sufficient 
force  and  concentration  to  dominate  the  local  situa- 
tion— to  raise  the  product  to  a  place  of  prominence — to 
hold  it  there  in  the  public  eye  for  a  sufficient  length  of 
time  to  create  a  lasting  impression  —  in  brief,  to  sell  a 
territory  and  sell  it  right  —  to  intrench  your  name  and 
your  brand  unforgettably  with  the  trade  as  well  as  the 
consumer. 

This  is  the  kind  of  merchandising  that  means  lasting, 
profitable  trade — the  kind  of  merchandising  that  any 
healthy  business  can  do.  If  the  methods  are  correct — 
the  work  thoroughly  done — you  can  build  up  a  system 
of  profitable  trade  units  that  in  time  will  cover  the 
country. 

I  am  strong  for  National  merchandising  and  publicity 
when  they  are  the  result  of  logical,  complete  territorial 
development. 

This  is  frequently  not  as  spectacular  a  campaign  as 
a  vivid  advertising  flash  across  all  the  heavens. 

But  territorial  merchandising,  properly  carried  out, 
means  a  fixed  star  of  demand. 

And  Haley's  comet — though  a  seven  nights'  wonder — 
was  soon  forgotten. 


25 


APPLIED  MERCHANDISING 

The  Nichols-Finn  Way 

Mr.  Finn's  observations  on  merchandising,  re- 
printed in  this  book,  throw  a  helpful  sidelight  on 
the  basic  beliefs  and  every-day  activities  of  the 
Nichols-Finn  Advertising  Company. 

We  are  Merchandisers  first.  We  have  not  a 
great  deal  of  time  to  indulge  in  high-brow  pro- 
fessionalism applied  to  advertising.  We  presume 
it  is  all  right. 

We  are  more  concerned  with  the  interesting 
phenomena  of  sales  in  the  making.  We  are  organ- 
ized to  co-operate  with  Big  concerns,  and  con- 
cerns which  possess  the  elements  of  Bigness,  in 
the  production  of  result-winning  campaigns. 

Here  are  some  of  the  outstanding  reasons  why 
Nichols-Finn  should  work  to  best  advantage  in 
connection  with  the  sales  and  advertising  depart- 
ments of  your  business : 

Our  present  connection  with  representative 
sales  and  advertising  successes ;  keen  analyses  of 
marketing  conditions;  reliable  knowledge  of  dis- 
tributing avenues;  correct  understanding  of  the 
relations  of  cost  and  price;  demonstrated  results 
in  ^^Merchandising  Advertising'' — effective  deal- 
er work;  ability  to  chart  a  course  that  will  avoid 
the  rocks  of  trade-resistance;  firing-line-sales- 
experience  ;  close-hand  knowledge  of  media,  meth- 
ods and  men. 

The  Nichols-Finn  Idea  represents  the  new 
spirit  in  Advertising  and  Merchandising — the 
intensive  production  of  real  profits. 

26 


EXPERIENCE  IS  ESSENTIAL 

Modern  business  is  too  far  advanced — compe- 
tition is  too  active — for  you  to  accept  as  a  business 
guide  one  who  has  never  trod  the  road  himself. 

Nichols-Finn  experience  insures  safe,  sane 
methods. 

We  render  a  personal  service  in  the  full  mean- 
ing of  that  term.  This  organization  will  never  be 
allowed  to  grow  beyond  the  point  where  the  prin- 
cipals of  the  business  are  personally  concerned  in 
deciding  every  vital  problem  in  connection  with 
every  campaign  produced.  Yet  the  scope  and 
variety  of  our  business  give  us  breadth  of  vision, 
depth  of  understanding — enable  us  to  keep  a  con- 
stant finger  on  the  pulse  of  Business  Today. 

In  no  other  way  can  you  gain  such  a  complete 
and  intimate  knowledge  of  Nichols-Finn  service  as 
by  a  visit  to  our  Chicago  office.  The  latchstring  is 
out — no  matter  how  remote  may  be  your  idea  of 
doing  business. 

Advertising  agency  claims  necessarily  sound 
alike  on  paper  and  in  **road'^  solicitation.  The 
place  to  judge  an  agency — what  it  has  done — 
what  it  is  doing — what  it  is  organized  to  do — is 
at  the  agency  itself. 

We  cordially  invite  you  to  call — or  we  will  call 
on  you,  if  you  prefer.  The  proof  awaits  you. 

NiCHOLS-FiNN  Advertising  Company 

222  S.  State  St.  /^M^  200  Fifth  Ave. 
Chicago  (TJSnwQ        New  York 


27 


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